Dear Comrades,
The government is planning to separate the functions of policy
making, regulations and operations of the over 150 year-old Department
of Post (DoP).
Sources in Ministry of Communications and IT said Kapil Sibal has
asked for setting up a body to oversee the unbundling of DoP's
functions.
An independent body named Postal Development Board (PDB) will be
responsible for the overall development and governance of the postal
sector, they added. The PDB will also draw a road-map for unbundling of
postal department functions.
"The idea is to develop Indian postal sector as a full-fledged
market, bring in more service providers to enhance employment and
contribution to nation's GDP," a senior ministry official said.
A recent review meeting of the entire sector, chaired by Sibal, found
that in some European countries' the sector contributes between 0.6-0.9
per cent of their GDP.
However, the contribution of the estimated Rs. 15,000-crore
Indian Postal sector is much lower. Private players have been demanding
unbundling of the department's functions for a level-playing field and
growth of the sector.
At present, DoP -- which has around 5 lakh employees -- is the sole
body responsible for policy making, regulations and providing postal
service.
The over 100-year old Indian Post Office Act, which governs the
sector, bars any individual or entity from delivering letter for
commercial purpose.
The business of private courier companies is built around delivering
documents, parcels and others items which do not fall under the category
of 'letter'.
Sibal has asked DoP to create a framework to support small and medium
postal operators and new models to encourage entrepreneurship in the
sector.
The minister has also instructed DoP to constitute a Postal Advisory
Board (PAB) which should have representation from government, industry
players, academics and other stakeholders.
The role of PAB will be to provide inputs to PDB on policy matters.
PDB will be set up under Secretary (Posts) and will include Secretaries
of Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Electronics and
Information Technology, Department of Commerce and two members from
Postal Services Board.
http://www.asianage.com/india/govt-plans-separate-india-posts-functions-840